Wittpenn Bridge connecting Jersey City and Kearny to close for maintenance for nine weekends

Jersey Journal file photoThe Wittpenn Bridge connecting Jersey City and Kearny will be closed for about nine weekends, beginning this weekend, the state Department of Transportation announced this afternoon.

The Wittpenn Bridge, connecting Jersey City and Kearny over the Hackensack River, will be closed to traffic for about nine weekends, the state Department of Transportation announced this afternoon.

The closures are to begin this weekend but don't include Labor Day weekend, according to the schedule released by the DOT.

The closures are for maintenance repairs of the movable bridge, the DOT said in a news release.

The closures will be from about 4 a.m. Saturdays to midnight Sundays the following weekends:

July 28/29

Aug. 4/5

Aug. 11/12

Aug. 18/19

Aug. 25/26

Sept. 8/9

Sept. 15/16

Sept. 22/23

and

Sept. 29/30

During the closures, the following detours will be in effect:

* Route 7 eastbound motorists will be directed to take Fish House Road to Pennsylvania Avenue to Central Avenue and then continue to Route 1&9T northbound and return to Route 7.

* Route 7 westbound traffic will take to Route 1&9T southbound to Central Avenue and then continue to Pennsylvania Avenue to Fish House Road and return to Route 7.

The precise timing of the work is subject to change due to weather or other factors, the DOT said.

In November, the DOT began construction on the first contract of a major project to replace the existing structure with a new vertical lift bridge on a new alignment approximately 200-feet to the north.

Construction of the new bridge is to be accomplished in four stages under four separate contracts.

The initial, $64 million stage of construction will build the river piers and fender system for the new vertical lift bridge.